The percentage of the world population suffering from morbid obesity is steadily increasing. Severely obese persons may be susceptible to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, pulmonary disease, and accidents. Because of the effects of morbid obesity on the life of the patient, methods of treating morbid obesity have been the subject of intense research.
One known method for treating morbid obesity includes the use of anastomotic rings. Devices for applying anastomotic rings are known in the art. Devices of this nature are commonly adapted to insert a compressed anastomotic ring to an anastomotic opening formed between proximate gastrointestinal tissue walls. These applier devices may utilize a ring deployment mechanism comprising an expansion element that is actuated once the compressed ring is placed in the anastomotic opening, causing the anastomotic ring to expand from its compressed, cylindrically-shaped position to an actuated, hollow rivet-shaped position.
However, it is possible that an application device may misfire when positioning the anastomotic ring device. This may leave the anastomotic ring device incorrectly deployed in the patient's body. Alternatively, other reasons may exist for desiring the removal of an anastomotic ring device. With anastomotic rings that are generally designed to be biased to the actuated position, it may necessary or otherwise desirable to at least partially compress the ring to the unactuated position to facilitate removal of the anastomotic ring device. Other reasons may exist for compressing an anastomotic ring device to an unactuated position for removal.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to have an extractor device that is operable to remove an anastomotic ring device from a patient's body.